On the road to a healthy life...

 It wasn't that long ago that I started this weight loss journey. I checked back and I had signed up for Weight Watchers on December 28, 2010. So one year and a few months later I have lost 60.8 lbs. My life has changed drastically when it comes to my activity level and how much I do care about living a healthy lifestyle. I want to be healthy, I want to try new and fun things, I'm not afraid that I can't do something anymore. So let's recap:

December 2010

September 2011 -35 lbs

November 2011 -40 lbs

January 2012 -50 lbs

March 2012 -60 lbs

Thanks to Cheryl for coming up with the idea to document this weight loss with a picture every 10 lbs or I wouldn't really have any good examples!  My goal is to reach my Weight Watchers goal by next April. I have increased how much I exercise each week and if I stay on top of my tracking I should reach this no problem. I have no clue if what I am about to say next is even possible, but once I reach lifetime at Weight Watchers I want to either be in a WW commercial or be in the WW magazine or both ;).  I wonder what the process would be to make this happen? I'll let you know when when I reach lifetime! :)

My newest motivation is this:

 5K's are my new hobby and I want to get better times with each one I do. I often think back to the Weight Watchers 5K that I did last May. It was so hard and all I did was walk it. No running whatsoever. I have come along way and with each 5K I complete, I feel a little bit stronger. I wanted a way to display my bib numbers. They encourage me and remind me of where I have been and where I am going. I found this online for photos and decided it would work nicely. There are fourteen spots to hang bib numbers and I plan to fill it up! It hangs in my closet so each day I am reminded to stay on track. My new thing is doing crazy 5K's. I signed up for the Dirty 30 in May. It is a 5K mud run with 15 obstacles along the way! It sounds like so much fun!!! Then in June I signed up for the Color Run in Tulsa! This one they throw a different color of paint on you at each kilometer! Again, SOOO excited about it! I am sure as the year goes on there will be several more, probably not as outrageous as these two but fun nonetheless. 

I am lucky enough to have a husband that supports me in each of these crazy ideas I get. He  has been to each race and plans to be there for every other one as long as he is town. Some days I get overwhelmed with how thankful and grateful I am for the life I have. I feel like by being healthy and active I can truly live this wonderful life I have been blessed with and appreciate every minute of it.


Until next time,
Leigha

Jacob turned 22!

Jacob Andrew is 22!  We went to Dave and Busters to celebrate and it was awesome! I love my family! 

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L.A. stands for LA Awesome!

I had the most wonderful opportunity to attend the International Olympic Committee's (IOC) Women and Sport Conference in February. This was a once in a lifetime experience. This conference is held every four years and this was the first time it had been held in the United States. This conference hosted very important women from across the world. These women are a part of the United Nations, Presidents or high ranking officials of their National Olympic Committees, Olympic athletes that have taken on the responsibly of equality of women in sport, and many other amazing women who are doing great things to bring women to the forefront of the sport scene in their countries.

The conference brought to center stage just how far we, not only as the United States, but as a global community have to go to get women into decision making roles, in business, in sport, and in the media. Women's sports coverage is around 5% of all televised sports related news. I don't know about you, but I am pretty sure there are a lot more women out their competing in news worthy sports than that 5% covers. There are other statics that I would encourage you to research. It is ridiculous. The only time in television sports that women and men are represented equally are the two weeks every two years during the Olympic Games. The problem is not only in sports, but in other media and how they portray women in stereotypical roles more often than not. Our children grow up watching more TV than ever, and they are being fed images of what society thinks of the gender roles they should play.

I don't know about you, but I want my (non-existent) daughter to believe that she can be whatever she wants to be. I want to empower her to dream bigger than she even thinks is possible. If she wants to be an ESPN commentator that is not just a sex symbol, but covers real sports, then do it. If she wants to be the owner of a Fortune 500 company, she can do that too. If she wants to be a stay at home mom, she can, but it won't be because society has told her that is her place. I want to encourage her be an independent thinker and dreamer, who will pave the way for future generations of women.

I get very passionate about women's rights and this conference has encouraged me to do more, even if it is something small, to get the next generation of women in sport one step closer to equality.

Okay, off my soapbox and on to the amazing City of L.A.! I am in love with this town. When we arrived at our hotel there were protesters outside of it. Vice President Biden and the Vice President of China were meeting at OUR hotel and staying there! Crazy! The place had an awesome feel! It was a wonderful representation of the beauty of free speech in our country!

We saw Steve Nash in our hotel lobby and supposedly Britney Spears made an appearance one of the clubs we had a reception at! Awesome! Hollywood was fantastic and scary all at the same time! There are some looney toons loose! We stayed at the JW Marriot which is right in LA Live. That was was so fun. It was like a city within a city. At one of the events they had a red carpet, so I HAD to pretend I was famous of course. I really need to get back to California ASAP! I want to do some star stalking and venture out to some other areas as well! I will let the pictures I posted below speak to how much fun I had in this great city!

Protesters!

Hollywood!!

HA! Weird People...

The President of the IOC

Elizaveta
Look her up! 

Jennie Finch! Bring Softball back to the Olympics!:)

Diana Nyad spoke at our conference as well!

Geena Davis speaking at our Conference!

Watch out Kim K.! Leigha is on the red carpet now! 

That looks like a famous lady!

Chinese Theater!

Future NBA commentator...perhaps! 

I would like to thank the Academy and my agent. I wouldn't be here today without you! LOL!

All in all it was a phenomenal trip! I am so thankful to have been able to go as a part of my really cool job! What more could a girl ask for? Oh yeah equal opportunities in sports! ;)

I'm King (ahem Queen) of the World!!

Kaytie and I had the opportunity to see a sneak peek of Titanic 3d on Valentine's Day! Before I delve in to how amazing it was, let me give you a little bit of history.

Approximately 15 years ago, this movie called Titanic came out. Kaytie and I fell in LOVE with the movie and the ship's history. Not only did we see it 8 times (at least) in the theater, but we had every thing Titanic that you could imagine. We shared a room, so it was very easy to turn it in to the "Ship of Dreams" room! We had found a poster book at Sam's that had 20-30 movie posters in it. I covered one of our walls with all of the posters, putting them in chronological order of the movie of course! We recorded EVERY episode on TV that even mentioned the real Titanic. For my younger readers, we didn't have DVR we actually had to either set the VCR or manually push record on the VCR to record TV shows. Thanks to my Grandma Norma we had the 1985 National Geographic that documented the discovery of the Titanic on the ocean floor of the Atlantic. Not only did we love Titanic, but we LOVED Leo. *Sigh* I may still love him! We had every Tiger Beat and Bop magazine cover he was ever on! Our obsession grew when the movie was released on a two VHS collectors box set and we had not only the Original Titanic Soundtrack, but the Back to Titanic Soundtrack. While we are talking about the music, Kaytie and I re-wrote the words to Celine Dion's My Heart Will Go On. I wish I could find our rendition. I am sure it would win awards!

So with that crazy history lesson in the Joiner girls let me continue about the sneak preview! Of course we were beside ourselves excited. We never thought we would see it on the big screen ever again! We stood in line hoping to get good seats and once in the theater we waited with anticipation for the start of the movie. Then you see it. The Titanic and Rose saying "It's been 84 years and I can still smell the fresh paint..." We watch intently for the next few hours. We cry our eyes out when the Titanic sinks and Jack dies. It was just as awful as I remember. Then we cried again when it showed all  of her pictures at the end and she had done all the things Jack had wanted her to. *Pausing for a tear...  When it was over we got a free t-shirt and a movie poster!! It was SO Awesome!

On my way home that night I was SO excited to tell TJ all about the movie and how wonderful it was and how I want to see it again when it comes out. He was in California so he couldn't have gone with me. Well, I am driving home expressing how excited I am about this movie to my husband, and when I hang up the phone  I see a cop behind me. No lights flashing or anything, but I check my speed. I am not speeding, so I go on. After a minute or so his lights pop on. So I pull over, mentally checking my seat belt is on, my speed was good, maybe I have a tail light out? The cop comes over to my window and asks "Miss have you been drinking? Are you feeling alright?" I was shocked! I told him of course not and he asked to see my license. Let me describe this scene. A grown lady in a Titanic shirt, a  movie that hasn't been in theaters for 15 years mind you, with a Titainic poster in her passengers seat and its late at night.  All that was missing was Celine blaring My Heart Will Go  On in the background! The officer comes back and says very politely "Please pay attention to the lines on the road." I apologized, obviously horrified, and he gave me a warning. I was so embarrassed! Instead of pulling over a drunk driver, he pulled over some crazy lady, reliving 1997, hopped up on 42oz of  Diet Coke, and on Leo overload! It was was so awful. Needless to say I was a very focused driver on my way home!

Anyways, I cherish the memories Kaytie and I have from way back when and the new ones we have made recently. I love that movie, my sister, and this crazy awesome bond that we will share forever! :)

I'll Never Let Go!